English Language Challenges

My experience with the english language really began in the first of secondary school. We had a teacher that was seen by everyone was the most ruthless, strict and "strong" teacher at the school. Miss Veronica. She started with us in basic education, but it wasn't until middle school when I felt like I was really learning.
She was everything we thought she'd be. Everyone would be quiet at class and we al feared her rage. But as usually happens with this kind of teacher, she just wanted us to learn. And she was really nice with people who wanted that too, and was an important support when I needed it.  I remember her very with a lot of affection, and I know she remembers me too.
Her classes, though, were very systematic. We'd read a text from the government's book. We'd translate it, and the we'd answer questions based on it. Some synonyms, antonyms and basic grammar. Eventually, we'd have to read it out lout for pronunciation evaluation. I started getting bored of that school in general, so when I changed to a better one, I was deadly scared because I was very behind them. But the years on the dictionary gave me a good base to stand up.
The  english teacher was going to read out loud a text, and then ask question randomly to the students. And then, as he was reading, the students followed him and I realized that I was actually understanding it, mostly, without the need of working previously on the text. I was supersized and excited, and my next teacher, miss Gia, completely get me and my other classmates out of the box. She invented the most weird english projects, but we did learn to speak, and write and think in english.
However, I still lacked of basic vocabulary that I should have learn like it kindergarten. When we did the english SIMCE, I felt like I was a beginner. I didn't know how to say roof, or spoon or uncle.
I still lack of it, and I realized during the university classes that to do it, I just had to read and talk about different things on different context, and that's how I'd know what worlds I don't know so I can search for them.
This is important to me, since I love being a fan boy, and nowadays everything cool is being done in english country. And the other things are easier to find in english than in spanish. Thank you, cold war.
I only took the fourth english course in the university, and I learnt some technical worlds, and also some worlds than are used in the real world. However, I still feel like it is not enough for reading scientific articles or "papers" which is the purpose of taking english in this career.
I loved the idea of writing blogs, because I love talking about myself (Sue me). Sometimes it was a relieve after a stressing afternoon to get to the lab and start speaking my mind, even though nobody read this online sheets.

EDIT: the teacher just told me this was the last blog. That's a little depressing. I wish I had put more effort in some posts...

Changes of my Study Program

My study programm is called "the new one", that's supposed to be less heavy than before. It lost some subject like anatomy, because it wasn't justified, and some advanced courses moved early because they were more related to the excercise of the career so they can work as introduction.
Talking to former students, the change seems to be good.
I can only talk about the second year of chemistry and pharmacy, that includes basic chemistry, basic biology and some practical courses.
But there are still some changes I would like to see in the career.
So far, there have been some troubles because of the requirements of some courses include others that aren't that necesary. They are very advanced and complicated, but then we don't really use that much of it in the next, and some people who failed those courses can't take the ones even though they are capable enough to do it. For example, electromagnetism was needed for physiology, because understanding energetic fields and ion corrents was key to study the movements of ions in the cells. But we barely saw any of that in electromagnetism, which was focused on the maths of it more than the nature of it.
Sometimes, requirements are only there tu avoid students to have schedule clashes, because we have a lot lately, and their organization is not our responsability. Specially if we pay good money for every year.
The official lenght is five years, and the media per student is 7-8 years, so it would be a great help  for us to finish the career.
Another issue is the lack of diverse and interesting cfg, that is to say, General formation courses.

Every body has one...

The world is changing. Some people would say we are going down. That people usually say this new generations have no respect for values, principles and we have lost sanity and basic decency. They say we don't care about what it is important, that we are trapped in our own reality. We don't respect the elders. We don't follow the rules and that is the reason of all the bad things that happen to us. 

That might be truth in some ways. Maybe some things are getting worst. 

But in my experience, and the experience of the million of people that today are fighting to repair the mistakes our granparents commited or allowed to commit, this generation is gold. I love this century, and the things that I don't love  about it are usually the things of the past century that are still getting in the way fo the new ideas. 

I can say that I have nothing to envy from the past "simple time" because "simple" means indiferent. I I see absolutly no reason to respect someone only because they have lived more than me, because some of them have only lived and experienced their own reality, which sometimes some of them strongly believe it's the only reality. 

The past is misogynist. The past is homophobic, transphobic, xenophobist, racist, classist, violent, abusive, intolerant, indifferent, prejudiced and I could keep going until my nose starts to bleed...

So I think the world is getting better... slowly and hardly... but better. 

Good changes are being made. People is finally understanding. Lives are being saved. 

Please, I beg all of you... don't ever give up... we can do it. 

Whats my opinion about the legalization of abortion in three cases?

To start, I'm against abortion. I believe that it is one of the most cruel things a human can do. But I understand that my view is entirely subjective. It relies in the values I have developped according to my experience, and the way I have interpretated that experience. 

I strongly support the legalization of abortion. And I think that the "three cases" are a contradiction. 

All of that vanishes if we understand that the rights of a woman over her body are not over the right of another human's rights.  And that is the big question. 

Is it human? even if it wasn't, does it have rights? It is a complicated question with a simple anwer. We don't know. And we can never know.

There is absolutely no way to decide, because all the arguments are: 1) based on personal believes, philosophical, spiritual, religious, etc. 2) based of scientific facts that still need subjective interpretations: we know in which stage of development the brain starts its activity(does that make it human?), we know when the heart starts beating (does that make it human?), we also know that even a single cell is autonous, but not independet, but the body doens't recognize it as a parasite and has the exact amount of chromosomes a human should have (does that make it human?). 

At the end, women not only have a right over her body, she has the right to choose what she believes about life itself,  and acting according to it. 

Sexual education to decide. Contraceptives to make a choice. Legal abortion not to die. 

Whats my opinion about having exotic pets at home?

Some people justify the symbiotic relationship between cattle animals and human civilization to survive and developped. 

But out of that, It is animal abuse to get them out of their enviroment and to change their behaviour. Making them dependent to us, is limitating their chances to survive. Limitating their resources is killing them slowly and painfully, phisically and mentally. It also makes a damage to the enviroment they were taken away from. 

Also, I don't see that much different between taking an elephant to my backyard with no space nor water than cutting down their jungles and drying their rivers there in afrika. 

What is my opinion on the legalization of marijuana and other drugs?

Marijuana is not addictive, and makes no harm by itself. If a kid smokes it, or if an adult smokes it all day, of course it will have side effects. Same thing happen with anything. I'm not saying drugs are like sugar, because they are not. But it is all about a good, informed and critical use. It should be under strong control, just like guns and vehicules about the amount cultivated, and where and how is selled.

What is your opinion on recycling?

It has been said and proved by all the scientific community that the way we produce is just not viable. Our life style is murdering us. All the discussions about equality and rights is useless if we go back to the jungle like animals. Recycling is necesary, and also easy and totally doable. It doens't requiare much effort.  Once the population is educated on the topic, how to do it correclty and efficiently, it could become part of the daily rutine, like brushing your teeth and doing the laundry. 

But the population is not enough. Reycling and other ecological methods are also easy with the proper machinery in our over industrialized system. 

It is not enough to encourage recycling to the industry and school. It must be a standardized and regulated obligation to industry and shown as a civil duty to the masses that directly benefits them.  

From cartoons, animes to TV series

Since I have memory, I spend the weekends in my grandfather's house. He let me do whatever I wanted during those two days, and I mostly spent them with my eyes stuck in the tv. I didn't have cable on  my house, so I took advantage from those hours as much as I could. I didn't know How I did it, but I think I managed to follow every show of that time.

Thanks to this, I grew up with a big love for fantasy and story telling. Later in life I moved my attention to books more than shows, but I still keep an eye everything that goes to air. 

I must say that we live in a great era for animated shows. There are great artist out there, creating original and entertaining shows full of contents as well, enjoyable for kids and adults. 

The only difference is that, today, I watch the episodes online, as soon as they come out, and after I watch it, I  go straight to the online fanbases to enjoy the discussions, analysis, memes, fanarts and theories. 

I love my generation. 

There are two shows that really mean a lot to me, one from my childhood and another from nowadays. 

The first one is Avatar: The Last Airbender, or The Legend of Aang. I have no words to explain how much this means to me. This show literally grew up with me. It started as a simple show I watched sporadically, but I became so obsessed with the story and specially, the characters that the first thing I did when we hired internet so long ago, was to watch it from the beginning. Only there I realized how much I had missed! a lot made sense then... I still watch it, now and then.

"Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked"

The other one is Steven Universe. I can't believe how actual this show is.  It has hit me hard and low sometimes, sometimes nearly makes me cry, which is kind of the purpose of the show. It talks about very modern themes in a very creative, respectful, sensitive and powerful way. Anyone could believe it is not a children show, but it is. It is for XXI  century children. Besides, the artwork is amazing.

When it comes to oriental animation, I'm not a big fan precisely, but I deeply respect it. If I watch an anime, it is mostly because someone else recommended it to me. I have liked most of them, but I was raised by Uncle Sam, and I can't change that, which is hard because almost all my friends are low key otakus (don't deny it), and sometimes I feel a little left out. 

 About mangas and comic books, I'm a total ignorant. Although I enjoy listening to other people about them, when I try them myself I never finish one.

Cartoons mean an escape from life, but also a space where I can reflect on life. They give me something to think about when I don't really want to think. They have given me a community to participate on, when outside life fail me. Talking about our favorite cartoons is a really good way to start conversations with new people, and even my friends when they get bored of me... 

"One of my favorite scenes in Steven Universe"

Post Graduate Studies

If there's something I don't like talking about is the future.
After I get my degree on Chemisttry and Pharmaceutical, my first step is to get a job and get a house, so if possible, I'd like to keep studying in a part time way.
Employability in my career is good now, but I don't about tomorrow. Competition is going to be harder every time a new generation go out to the field, and I can't stay behind, nor allowing my knowledge to become outdated, so further studies are in my list, but not in the near future.
As I wrote in the last post, the specialities I'd like to study are Veterinarian Pharmaceutical, since I really wanted that to be my career. Some people have suggested me to get a Doctor's Degree and dedicate my life to investigation in the veterinarian area, to discover, developped or improve  better animal medicines. I feel very attracted to that idea. If I could make it happen, I'd be able to make a real difference for animals from my career.
Another option would be to take off to another country, using my studies as an excuse. I've heard that studying outside is an experience that open your mind in strong ways, just because of coexisting with people with other cultures, not only the culture of the country you are in.
I have family in Canada, although I've never meet any of them, but It's better than nothing.

Dream Job

I got to be honest. I don't have a single clue of what job I want to have. I assume, since I'm studying Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals, I'll work as a pharmaceutical chemist.
But like they taught us at the beginning of the career, there are a lot of different areas where I could develop: pharmacies, pharmaceutical factories, pharmacies in hospitals, research and investigation, and even pedagogy.
From them all, I'd feel more comfortable with the administrative roles of a pharmaceutical than the scientific ones. These would be working on a hospital or a community pharmacy.
I made my intermediate practice in a Cruz Verde pharmacy, and I'd call it an acceptable experience.  It was an indoor job almost all the time, except when I was sent to other pharmacies for small deliveries. My boss, the pharmaceutical were seated all the time, checking emails, ordering papers and watching mexican telenovelas.
Generally speaking, I got the impression that it was a very routine job. This would be ideal to me, because my real goals aren't the ones related to my professional career, so I need to have a good amount of free time and space for myself.
                                               
Everybody says that this job are very well paid, which means that I'd be making around 1 million Chilean Pesos, or even more if I'd applied myself. To me money is not that important, as long as I can buy a house big enough to provide a healthy space for my future pets, i'm good. But what I really need, since i'm useless on my own, is employment stability. (I wouldn't last a day unemployed).
If I decided to make it a little more close to my personal interests, I'd like to complement my studies and specialize in veterinarian products, because when I was a child my dream job was to be a vet, and I'd like to be able to do something for animals from my position. Or maybe I'll specialize in cosmetics, which is also inside the pharmaceutical sciences, so I could become something like a professional cross dresser during the night times.
Anything else about my future are still nothing more than fleeting dreams. Sometimes I want to give up on everything and study to be a librarian, or a book seller. Or maybe an author myself. Sometimes I see myself as a famous flutist, or a drag queen who travels around the world winning contests... but the real dream job would be a corpse for medical researches... hopefully soon.

New Antipsychotics

According to the OMS, last October 10th was International Day of Mental Health, that's when we discuss topics regarding mental illness such as depression, anxiety, bipolarity and schizophrenia.

"The Madman's Tale by John Katzenbach"

These are diseases that deeply affect the life of the ones who suffer from them, including symptoms like abnormal thoughts, emotions and behaviors that difficult the relationship with the environment, reality, their relationship with people and themselves. 

Despite the high amount of mental diseased people in the world, we still have to face an incredible amount of stigma and prejudice when it comes to discuss the issue. Since they originate in the mind, sometimes is hard to understand what's going for people from the outside. But it all have its root in the biochemical balance of the brain.

The treatment for them consist in a combination of psychotherapy and medicine, but we still have a long way until we can produce satisfying results that really help to improve people's quality of life. Most of medicines for mental illness, called psychotropic drugs, barely manage to reduce the symptoms and produce a lot of problematic side effects.

For example, antipsychotics, the drugs used to treat psychosis and bipolar disorders, consist in chemical molecules that decrease the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the central nervous system. Normally, this neurotransmitter is responsible of motivation, pleasure, memory, attention, etc. But when in higher concentrations than usual, in specific areas of brain, it can cause psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia. 

However, it is very complicated to reduce dopamine only in some areas and not others. This means that antipsychotics keep under control the  "typical" or "positive" symptoms of schizophrenia, like hallucinations and delusions, but on the other hand, most of them fail with other issues like affective dullness, slow thinking, lack of motivation and incapacity to maintain habits. Meanwhile, the side effects include sedation, which can cause toubles for working and studying, nausea, sexual disfunction... sometimes, to fight this side effects they take more pills with their own side effects.
Peopel with this diseases fill they are trapped between two nightmares.
Becauseof al this, farmaceuticals have the must to find different options for treatments that accomplish more specific targets in the brain, or at least have more manageeable side effects so we can actually talk about an imporve in the patient's life, and not only make them less dangerouse for society.

Some New Antipsychotics approved by FDA in 2017

Las year, some of the new antipsychotics were approved by FDA. They allow wider intervals of administrations, which leads to less intense side effects with a better improvement on the patient's social integration